DEV Community

Cover image for Articles vs Videos - Which is Your Learning Preference?

Articles vs Videos - Which is Your Learning Preference?

Shahed Nasser on September 06, 2022

Some developers love learning through blog posts, articles, or just any form of written content. Others prefer finding videos, whether on Youtube...
Collapse
 
aileenr profile image
Aileen Rae

I much prefer written content. A few reasons:

  • reading is quicker for me,
  • reading is a more active brain task so I absorb the information more,
  • it's much easier to skim (or Ctrl+F) in an article to reference something than it is to scrub through a video timeline
  • you can copy and paste code snippets.

I do occasionally prefer a video for introducing me to a brand new concept, or for high-level abstract topics. The WET Codebase talk from Dan Abramov is a good example of something I would not take in as well in writing.

As an aside, I imagine DEV members will on average prefer written content, given that's what it's a platform for?

Collapse
 
shahednasser profile image
Shahed Nasser

I was gonna mention if a video has a transcript would it be similar to a blog post experience, but then noticed that the video you included has a transcript so I guess that could answer my question!

Collapse
 
aileenr profile image
Aileen Rae

Haha, Yes, that transcript is a really nice accessibility addition but it’s not as nice to read as a formatted article.

In theory, you could write a nicely formatted transcription, but at that point you’re creating two pieces of content and that’s a lot of work.

Thread Thread
 
shahednasser profile image
Shahed Nasser

I think there are tools that automate it but you most probably would still need to proof it, especially if it contains code blocks.

Collapse
 
lengsovandara profile image
Sovandara LENG

I do agree with you guys. Reading is good when we already have some basic concepts but video is better when new concept. Actually, I also prefer reading because it quicker too for me.

Collapse
 
liftoffstudios profile image
Liftoff Studios

The written format is the one I usually prefer
I find it easier since I can copy and test code, tinker around with it and scroll to the parts of the tutorial I need, without the hassle of going through the whole article

Collapse
 
shahednasser profile image
Shahed Nasser

True, written content is definitely the best for copy-pasting

Collapse
 
alonedatascientist profile image
alonedatascientist

Written. As long as it is well written. I like being able to go at my own pace and try out code before going on to the next section of the article. I find I get far more from written then I do video. That being said video is nice occasionally to re-enforce complicated topics or to get a brief overview of a new topic.

Collapse
 
mayankfawkes profile image
Mayank Gupta

I prefer written because written saves time at-least for me, lets suppose someone made a video of 10 min explain some topics then to understand that you need to waste your 10 minutes when i can consume the same thing with 2 minutes of reading thats my way of thinking and what i do.

Collapse
 
shahednasser profile image
Shahed Nasser

That makes sense! Would it apply the same way if you were totally new to a topic?

Collapse
 
mayankfawkes profile image
Mayank Gupta

90% of the time written works for me, but I also agree that sometimes learning with visuals can help you understand more with new topics, I also believe its the matter of your skill stage.

Collapse
 
joelbonetr profile image
JoelBonetR 🥇

Completelly agree. Moreover you can check the documentation much faster this way than if it was a video 😅

+1 on the written format here.

Collapse
 
facsiaginsa profile image
Bagus Facsi Aginsa

Both..

If I want to learn new things and dont know where to start, e.g: "I want to learn NodeJS", then I prefer video.

But..

If I want to search spesific usecase, e.g. "how to connect NodeJS to Redis", then I prefer article.

Collapse
 
shahednasser profile image
Shahed Nasser

That seems to be the general approach for everyone!

Collapse
 
lico profile image
SeongKuk Han

I prefer reading. But when I want to use new skills right away, I watch youtube videos. Like, when I got an assignment from the interview, I had to use 'react-query' that I didn't know and had to wrote test code, so, I watched videos about that and I could use them following their styles that were on the videos.

Collapse
 
shahednasser profile image
Shahed Nasser

That's interesting! Did the interview go well btw? 😄

Collapse
 
lico profile image
SeongKuk Han

Yes, It went well, and I'm working there now :)

Collapse
 
mteheran profile image
Miguel Teheran

I like both, when I am learning something from scrash videos is a good option but whenI want to review a library or extension of something that I know I prefer read and article also when I am following a guide to complete a setup.

Collapse
 
jamesmawalker profile image
James M. Walker

I generally prefer videos, if I'm honest. The format typically allows for quick little asides that more fully explain why a given thing is being done. Articles tend to have a lot of this information stripped out in the editing process.

Collapse
 
shahednasser profile image
Shahed Nasser

That’s true in some cases, it probably depends on the type of article or its purpose

Collapse
 
onurcanavci_ profile image
Onur Can AVCI

It depends on the situation. If I don't have a know how about the technology, first I watch a short video. Then, I start to read documentations and articles. Articles and documentations much more useful to find what you wonder or learn.

Collapse
 
lexiebkm profile image
Alexander B.K.

Written resources, of course. The documentation should be friend for the programmer.
Some official websites of the subjects provide nice written tutorials for getting started or quick start such as React Native that learners can immediately play around to get motivation.
Videos are for listening to what experienced people tell, like Patrick Syu aka Techlead (ex-google, ex-facebook, millionaire, youtuber) tells, for fun.

Collapse
 
wadecodez profile image
Wade Zimmerman

Originally it was videos but articles save so much time. The more you read, the easier it is to skim past the repetitive content.

Also it's easier to tell which articles are click bait or copy/paste compared to videos.

Collapse
 
shahednasser profile image
Shahed Nasser

That’s a good point!

Collapse
 
panditapan profile image
Pandita

When it comes to software I prefer written cause it's the medium I'm more used to and it's less concerning for evil bosses who look at my screen (I'm looking at my dog right now!!). But if it's something I'm 100% a noob on, then video it is.

But, at the same time I love watching videos on science, history, art, gossip, etc. on my lunch time. I try to have other interests than software so, I don't actively look for software stuff in my downtime. c:

Collapse
 
alaindet profile image
Alain D'Ettorre

Why choose? If content is great, I consume anything. Videos are something I prepare for (get the headset, reserve some time), while articles and documentation is something I use more often and more casually and/or in spots

Collapse
 
shahednasser profile image
Shahed Nasser

No need to choose! Just getting a general idea of what developers prefer 😊

Collapse
 
kristianhnielsen profile image
Kristian Hviid Nielsen

I prefer videos.
It is much easier for me to get an idea of the process as a whole.

It also allows me to see stuff like how to handle styles or folder structure that's implicitly given with videos.

Collapse
 
shahednasser profile image
Shahed Nasser

Makes sense. What I'm mostly curious about with learning through videos if you're following a tutorial with code snippets. How easy/difficult it is to follow along?

Collapse
 
lastirembender profile image
İrem Akyol

Even some people prefer podcasts. This choice seems too interesting for me because I'm a visual learer. I can't find enough time for listening to podcasts. I prefer videos. Especially live coding videos are my fav because I'm coding while I'm watching the videos.

Collapse
 
shahednasser profile image
Shahed Nasser

That's true I've seen that! I've never tried listening to a podcast to learn something. I'm interested to see how that experience works like

Collapse
 
2kabhishek profile image
Abhishek Keshri

Always articles, navigation, searching, reading just bits of it, so many reasons

Collapse
 
sashevuchkov profile image
Sashe V.

I definitely prefer learning from written content because I read fast and can scan, scroll, and quickly skip sections, but be sure they don't contain anything important.

Collapse
 
shahednasser profile image
Shahed Nasser

What do you mean they don’t contain anything important?

Collapse
 
sashevuchkov profile image
Sashe V. • Edited

When I'm about to skip a section, I read its subtitle and then scan the content for keywords and code snippets. If I stumble on something I discover for the first time and it looks important, then I scroll back and read the whole section.

For example, if I'm researching, I may read several books on the topic. Their authors talk about the same thing, so after reading the first book, I can skip some parts of the other books.

Collapse
 
eshimischi profile image
eshimischi

Since 1998 only text, always.

Collapse
 
shahednasser profile image
Shahed Nasser

Love the specific year 😄

Collapse
 
ben profile image
Ben Halpern

When I’m brand new to a subject, I benefit from videos, but after that, it is definitely not the form factor I’m looking for and prefer the more “random access” format.

Collapse
 
shahednasser profile image
Shahed Nasser

Would the video be like a short video that explains the basics of the topic, or would it be a long video/course series?

Collapse
 
othimar profile image
Pélé Oussoumanou

I usually prefer written content. But videos are much better for some topics like frontend development.

Collapse
 
iarchitsharma profile image
Archit Sharma

I begin with a video tutorial and then move on to reading articles and reviewing documentation.
I think at some point we all have to go through the Documentation.

Collapse
 
shahednasser profile image
Shahed Nasser

Agreed! Documentations are key assets

Collapse
 
acode123 profile image
acode123

It really depends.

Collapse
 
saiprasaddevare profile image
Saiprasad Devare

I prefer both. Thats totally depend upon what I looking for.

If some concept is new then I look to the videos, get some basic understanding and move to blog i.e written stuff.

Collapse
 
pistolario profile image
Marcos Pérez

In general, I prefer written format. Easier to grasp key information, search.
The only inprovement of videos is to explain "not so clear" steps in something.

Collapse
 
wushang1987 profile image
Will Wang

yes,Watch video need to spend more time

Collapse
 
arndom profile image
Nabil Alamin

Depends on the situation, videos if i need something that's better learned via video like tutorial but generally the go to is written format cos documentation really does it's job for me

Collapse
 
enriquesource profile image
EnriqueSource

Written content

Collapse
 
bradtaniguchi profile image
Brad

Videos for short, high level overviews of a topic.

Written for everything else.

Collapse
 
nhshanto profile image
N.H

I prefer both. Article are good but some times video is better to understand .

Collapse
 
shahednasser profile image
Shahed Nasser

Good point!

Collapse
 
thumbone profile image
Bernd Wechner

Video is a way overused medium in the tech space. I don't mind a good recorded talk at a conference, but if I watch that it's for the same reason I'd maybe attend a conference, which isn't generally to learn a specific thing so much as it is because the title and abstract draw me into a conversation of sorts and I have the time for that.

If I need to learn something I will always prefer the efficiency of something I can scan and read at whatever rate I need, jump around in, explore in directions I want.

To make matters even worse in the video space, there is some really atrocious stuff out there. The worst I have seen lately is folk posting YouTube's with Stack Overflow questions as the title, and then some really bad unrelated video of something else with, if you fast forward, screen shots of the Stack Overflow question and chosen answer read out in a canned voice. Painful experience.

As a rule, written form trumps in the learning surface and video rarely appeals.

Collapse
 
goncalorodrigues profile image
Gonçalo Rodrigues

Articles for sure.

I can scroll through them easily, skipping parts that I already know or are not interesting for my use case. And can easily reread parts that are more complicated. It also allows me to quickly understand if it's even worth reading - with videos I find that I need to spend a few seconds to a minute to understand if it's relevant to me.

Collapse
 
andrewbaisden profile image
Andrew Baisden

Both provide different learning experiences and can help you to learn.

Collapse
 
drsensor profile image
૮༼⚆︿⚆༽つ • Edited

To reduce carbon emission, I prefer article over video. Article can be cached by the browser while video are not. However, video has more potential to be monetize (thanks YT!) and gain more audience (dunno if it just a false positive number due platform popularity).

Serious answer: I prefer article that are mobile friendly (responsive layout + low energy impact) while give me decent illustration/diagram and interactivity. The interactive part can be embedded code editor (no <iframe> or foreign <script> please), dynamic component, or even a simple slide show.

PS: 10s video is actually good format for gaining audience

Collapse
 
_prem profile image
Prem D

This is a written medium, of course here you will get most people preferring written format. People who prefer videos are probably watching videos instead of being on medium 🤦🏽‍♂️